Nothing Else Matters... {N3M}
by Mr.Void
Summary: The Girls All Leave Earth Because Of Tenchi, and He Finds Out Soon that: Nothing Else Matters... {Cptr(s) 5-6 UpLoadEd}
1. N3M Cptr 1 |||So Close No Matter How Far...

N3M Cptr 1 |||So Close No Matter How Far...|||  
  
A ring of smoke rose into the air, and the boy wearing the blindfold stood ready  
to receive his punishment. The sound of many rifles being loaded; was preceded  
by a man asking him, "Do you have any last requests?" The boy in the blindfold  
said, "Can I undo what had been done?" The commandant sighed, then ordered,  
"Ready, Aim... Fire!"  
  
Tenchi bolted awake right before the firing squad had shot him. "Just another  
dream," he muttered to himself. "It's been like this ever since they left..." he  
said to himself. It had been over five months now since they had gone. He had  
lost his temper, and then he lost his friends... Friends? no, family? Yes, he  
had lost his family. He lay down on his back and held his head; it still hurt  
when he thought of it. Maybe if he did something drastic enough they would be  
able to know he was truly sorry. Maybe if he jumped off the highest building in  
the world, or burned himself alive, or... "Snap out of it," he told himself. He  
had gone damn near stir crazy after they left. And it was his entire fault, even  
though he tried to convince himself different; he knew deep down inside that it  
was. All because he couldn't hold his tongue when he had become enraged. He  
still remembered it, like it was yesterday...  
  
*~*Start of cheesy Flash-Back sequence*~*  
(I know, flashbacks suck, what am I going to tell ya?)  
  
It was a day like any other day, only it wasn't any other day; it was the day  
his life would change forever. He arrived home at his usual time, and was  
greeted by Ryoko and Aeka at the usual spot. They had the usual walk home, icy  
stares included and the usual before dinner bickering and fighting over his  
affections. What they didn't, and couldn't have known, was that Tenchi had had a  
really bad day at school. This, compounded by the fact that he hardly ever let  
his feelings out, made for the perfect emotional blowout situation. At dinner,  
Aeka and Ryoko had found their usual dumbass thing to pick a fight about; and  
Tenchi tried to tune it out, like all the other nights... But he couldn't, their  
name calling and shrewd laughs   
grated on him. It was like the sound of two chainsaws used to clean a  
chalkboard, as hundreds of dogs and cats hollowed in unison. He gritted his  
teeth and silently hoped for a meteorite to fall from the sky and strike him  
dead. "Count backwards from 10," he told himself. Aeka laughed and rolled her  
eyes as she traded more insults with Ryoko. "Better make it 1000," he concluded.  
  
They booth stood up, and started yelling at each other. "How dare you insult a  
member of the Jurai royal family in such a manner, you will pay for this!"  
snapped Aeka. Ryoko let out a yawn, "Oh, ya; and who is going to make me 'pay  
for this'? Certainly not you, your royal pain in the assness!" It was like a  
landmine going off in a field full of daisies. "Can't both of you shut up for  
one damn meal!," screamed Tenchi as he stood. "You overzealous bitches never  
stop your godamn fighting!" he said, screaming louder. Ryoko and Aeka (and  
everyone else at the table) were in a complete state of shock. "You drive me  
completely insane! Day in, day out, it's always the same, fight - fight - fight  
- fight! I'm so sick of it; I..." The next six words changed his life forever,   
"Wish you had never come here!!!" With his anger expressed, he stormed out of  
the house, into the wilderness; were he stayed for three nights.  
  
On the forth day he returned to his house, only to find it empty. "Ryoko, Aeka?   
I'm sorry for what I said. I, I really didn't mean it; I just was just having a  
bad day. I shouldn't have taken it out on you two." He went into the kitchen,  
which was fairly clean, but devoid of life. "Aeka? Ryoko? Sasami?" he called as  
he headed upstairs. He knocked on the door to the princess' room, "I know it's  
no excuse..." After a brief period of silence, he pushed it open. He found the  
thing he dreaded most, nothing. The room was completely cleaned out, only two  
neatly folded futons remained. "For what I said..." he breathed to himself. He  
sprinted around the rest of the house, opening all doors while calling for them.  
They were nowhere to be found. "Don't worry, there is a perfectly good  
explanation for this," he told himself. "Yeah, you told them you wish they had  
never come here, so they left," Was the perfectly good explanation he gave  
himself. "Please no..." He trembled as he reached out to turn the door to the  
closet door under the stairs. Inside the whirr and click of machinery was  
interrupted only by intermittent beeps. "Thank God!," he said aloud as he  
stepped inside. He looked around, and weakly called out, "Miss Washu?" No  
answer. He walked deeper into the blackness, "Miss Washu?" he called out again.  
No answer. He peered into the darkness, and then turned to leave. As he closed  
the door behind him, he realized that had ruined it, ruined it all.  
  
He may have not been the sharpest tool in the shed, but after Washu's lab  
disappeared, he knew they were never coming back. "Damnit!," he yelled as he  
slammed his fist against the ground. What the hell had he been thinking? Wish  
they had never come, what an idiot thing to say! Had he known what was going to  
transpire that day, he would have gladly traded his life for the insurance it  
would not have happened. But it did happen, and, a phrase from some movie he had  
seen stuck in his mind: "You have passed the point of no return, there is no  
turning back now..." No turning back, not now, not ever.  
  
After they left, he realized how complete his life really had been with them  
there. How he longed to hear their voices, just one more time. He had been  
catatonic for the first month, every day he did what he was supposed to. But he  
never felt anything, it was all motions, no feeling. He was surprised he hadn't  
gotten ill, after not eating and sleeping for so long. Then two months passed,  
then three. He eventually stopped doing anything, oh sure, his dad and  
grandfather thought he was doing stuff, but he wasn't. He had dropped out of  
school over a month ago, and he couldn't hide that for much longer. He had  
considered suicide, but dismissed that thought; he also contemplated running  
away. That seemed to be the best thing, to save his family the embarrassment of  
his failure. The problem was where to run to; there was nowhere on earth he  
wanted to be. He thought about highjacking a space shuttle, but knew that was  
ridiculous. Even if he could get inside the thing, he would never get it off the  
ground. What he needed was a miracle, and a good one at that. He looked up into  
the now sparkling, night sky; and wished upon a falling star, a large, very fast  
falling star.  
  
"That is no star," Tenchi told himself, "That is a space ship, and not anything  
from earth, either!" It couldn't be... could it? It look like, yes, it had to  
be! It was Ryo-oki! "Woohoo," screamed Tenchi as he sprinted towards his house.  
He looked up behind him as he ran, and saw that the ship was white. White!,  
Ryo-oki isn't white! And the points were facing down. "Shit," huffed Tenchi as  
he came to a sudden halt. It wasn't Ryoko, of course not! It was Nagi, damnit!  
Why her, anyone but her! She would just stay long enough to find out Ryoko  
wasn't on earth anymore, then leave to find her... "Leave to find her, Leave  
earth to find here, Duh!" He smacked himself up the side of the head and resumed  
sprinting. He reached his front yard just shortly after Nagi had started to poke  
around... Well, that is, if kicking in the front door and trashing the house  
constitutes 'poking around'. Tenchi was leery to enter the house, remembering  
how there last encounter on earth turned out. But he realized, now that he was  
out of Ryoko's good graces, to say the least, Nagi would have no use for him,  
hopefully. He heard another door being broken down, and tried to think of a way  
to ask a ruthless bounty hunter for a free trip to an intergalactic bus stop...  
"Oh, ya. This is going to go over like a lead balloon."  
  
Nagi was frowning as she walked down the stairs, disappointed at the realization  
that her prey had fled this planet a long while ago. "Well, well," she said  
quietly to herself, "its Tenchi, Ryoko's man. At least this trip is not a total  
loss..." Allowing herself a sinister smile, Nagi strode across the room until  
she was face to face with him. "And how are you doing now-a-days?" Tenchi  
smiled, "Good, exceptionally well, and yourself?" He wasn't a very good liar;  
she was also amused at his feigned courage. "I'm well, and how is Ryoko holding  
up?" Tenchi was hoping she wouldn't ask this for a few more minutes, or at least  
until he had come up with a good lie. He decided to tell her the truth; he had  
read somewhere that 'the truth will set you free'. "I wouldn't know, she left  
earth about five months ago now. I was hoping you had some information on her  
whereabouts..." A complete waste of time, and a five-month head start, this was  
turning into a bad day. I had better make sure, "Why did she leave?" "She was,  
uh, bored with earth; she needed some excitement in her life." He truly was a  
horrible liar, "Mmmhuh, well then, I have a five month head start to catch up  
with..." She walked briskly past Tenchi, towards her cabbit.  
  
Something a kin to a nuclear bomb went off inside Tenchi's head as he watched  
his last chance walking away. "Wait! Could you take me with you?" He blurted  
out. Nagi replied gruffly, "I am not your baby sitter, nor am I an escort  
service. Find your own way off of this god forsaken rock." He WAS desperate,  
"Please, I'll be in your eternal debt!" "You all ready are in my debt, do you  
forget my help so quickly?" How low can you go? "Please, I will surly pay you  
back!" Nagi turned around, laughing; "You, pay me back, and just how would you  
propose you would go about doing this?" Couldn't she hear how desperate he was,  
didn't she have one ounce of compassion? She pivoted around, and walked up the  
ramp of her ship. "Wait! You must take me with you, you must!" How could Ryoko  
have ever been interested in such a man? "I all ready told you, no! You are  
weak, and helpless, the only thing you are good for, is slowing others down!" If  
her words were so blunt, why did they cut like a knife? "Everything you said is  
true, all of it, every last word..." His voice trailed off. "Just, just forget  
it." He hung his head as he walked away.  
  
Maybe he would get lucky, and when he was repairing the damage in the house, a  
ruptured gas pipe would explode. He would never be so lucky. Tenchi sighed  
loudly as he shuffled up to his front door. He leaned against the jamb, and  
secretly prayed for the house to fall down upon him. He was such a loser! First  
he lost his cool and told everyone he wished they had never come. Then he stayed  
away for so long that they thought he had truly meant it. Now he had let his  
last chance at an apology just slip out of his hands. He went inside the house,  
and started to access the damage.  
  
Nagi had seen some pretty depressed people in her line of work, but this case  
took the cake. The way his face fell after she told him she would never take  
him, it was disgraceful. "Oh, well," she said to herself, "I've got too many of  
my own problems to worry about, let alone worrying about others problems."  
Besides, he would just slow her down. And Ryoko wasn't interested in him any  
more, either. Why was she telling herself these things? Was she just trying to  
make an excuse so she wouldn't feel guilty about it later? Well, she already  
does have a five-month head start, what is another hour to take this kid  
somewhere... "I know I'm going to regret this," she muttered.  
  
About one month after everyone had arrived, Tenchi's father bought a spare to  
practically everything in the house. Not being able to count the times they had  
come in handy before, Tenchi just shrugged his shoulders as he picked up a few  
doors. He thought a warehouse selling doors would probably become rich if it  
opened in his back yard; until he had royally fed up everything, he reminded  
himself. He walked to the front door, and leaned the replacement against the  
damaged frame. He shimmed and screwed the hinges on, and swung it open to make  
sure it was done properly. He swung it to the outside, and then swung it inside,  
only to see Nagi standing at the door. "Holy," he stopped himself; he still  
remembered being tied up and thrown in a coffin. Nagi wasn't exactly the type of  
person one liked being surprised to meet. She just stared at him through her  
seemingly dead, red eyes. "What!?" he nervously blurted out.  
  
"We leave in two minutes." she said with an impish grin. With that, she did an  
about face and casually walked back to Ken-ohki.  
  
Tenchi scrambled up the stairs to his room. He grabbed a backpack out of the  
closet and stuffed as much clothes in it as possible. He thought about what  
other things would be useful on a trip to outer space. He briefly thought about  
what he thought of space travel before the girls had arrived; a heavy space suit  
with a very limited supply of oxygen. He quietly laughed to himself as he  
remembered just how far behind earth was when it came to space flight. His  
sword; check, clothes; check, leave a note for his father and grandfather,  
check... "Anything else that would be useful?" He was walking out of his room  
when he glanced at his desk and saw the girls staring back at him, from behind a  
glass frame. A tear rolled down his cheek as he folded it and placed it in his  
pocket.  
  
Waiting in Keno-ohki, Nagi was busy trying to remember Ryoko's usual hants. She  
had fully expected her to still be on this backwater planet, and with no crimes  
reported, to be committed by Ryoko, she wondered where she could be hiding. Deep  
in thought, she hardly noticed Tenchi was aboard until he cleared his throat.  
She smiled when she saw everything he was carrying: a backpack overflowing with  
clothes, a full pillow case of misc. items, and a small box of flat, circular  
things.  
  
"Expecting a long layover?" She asked with a chuckle.  
  
"Very." Tenchi replied as he dropped everything on the floor. He let out a heavy  
sigh as he took one last look at his house, truly wondering if he would ever see  
it again.  
  
  
Nagi pressed something on a screen, and then said in an authoritative voice,  
"Let's get going Ken-ohki!" The cabbit rapidly rose into the sky, then into and  
out of the stratosphere. Soon they were well on their way out of the Sol System.  
Tenchi shifted his weight uncomfortable as they flew space in complete silence.  
He wasn't sure which he feared more, Nagi or the questions she might ask. He  
closed his eyes, and a song he knew far too well came to mind...  
  
So close not matter how far,  
Couldn't bleed much more from the heart,  
Forever trust in who we are,  
And Nothing Else Matters.  
  
I never opened myself this way,  
Life is ours,  
We live it our way,  
All these words I don't just say,  
And Nothing Else Matters.  
  
Trust I seek and I find in you,  
Everyday for us,  
Something new,  
Open mind for a different view,  
And Nothing Else Matters.  
  
Never cared for what they said,  
Never cared for games they played,  
Never cared for what they do,  
Never cared for what they know,  
And I know...  
  
So close not matter how far,  
Couldn't bleed much more from the heart,  
Forever trust in who we are,  
And No, Nothing Else Matters.  
*******************************************************************  
  
Shameless Plug: www.FanScript.cjb.net 


	2. N3M Cptr 2 |||Couldn't Bleed Much More F...

N3M Cptr 2 |||Couldn't Bleed Much More From The Heart...|||  
  
The knife flew threw the air, faster than the eye could see. *Phthunk!* "Ha, Pay  
up!" said the man who had just thrown it. The other rough looking man with  
muttonchops tossed a fist full of currency at the man. "Lucky bastard!" Back in  
another smoke filled corner of the dingy bar, someone called out for another  
drink. This was a place to drown ones sorrows, and bask in oneself pity. The  
bartender brought out the, who know how many hundredth drink, to the lady in the  
booth. She was scary enough herself, without that damn hissing cabbit of hers.  
He also knew she was totally blitzed, but wouldn't dare to tell her she had had  
her limit. No sooner had he set down the glass then it was empty.  
  
The barkeep cleared his throat, "Now I know life is hard, especially for those  
of us who stumble off the straight and narrow. But, really, death by alcohol  
poisoning is not the answer."  
  
She slowly lifted her head up and stared at him. "Why do you care? I'm paying  
for your damn cheap booze, so get me some more!"  
  
He sighed, now he remembered why he didn't talk to the patrons about their  
problems. Well, it was true, even if she didn't have the money on her, he knew  
that she was good for it. "Come on now, Ryoko, I've known you for a long time;  
why don't you tell old Joe what's bothering you?"  
  
Silence.  
  
"Come on now, it can't be that bad!"  
  
Silence.  
  
"Look, you used to laugh whenever shit happened before, what was it that you  
used to say... Oh, ya! 'At least you escaped with your life,' that was it,  
right?"  
  
Her stare pierced his skin; it was as if she was looking through him. He felt a  
chill down in his soul, "Another round, coming up." As he quickly shuffled away,  
he could feel her eyes burning a hole in his back.  
  
"Miya!" Said Ryo-ohki sympathetically. She patted its head, and in return it  
cuddled up next to its mistress. She put her head back in her arms.  
  
"Mind if I sit down?" asked a suave, masculine voice.  
  
"Yes," she said without looking up.  
  
He sat down anyway, and pushed a folder across the table to her. "What do you  
want," she said, very agitated.  
  
"I simply want the best."  
  
"I'm... Busy at the moment."  
  
"If you do this for me, you will never have to worry about anything ever again."  
  
*How many times have I heard THAT one before...*  
  
"Don't tell me Ryoko, the most wanted criminal in the galaxy, has become gun  
shy."  
  
Quicker than the eye could see, a glowing orange sword was at the side of his  
throat. All conversation stopped, and all eyes were on them. She was intrigued;  
he didn't even flinch. "I could..."  
  
He cut her off in mid-sentence, "Kill me? I suppose that would be, profitable?  
What I propose to you would secure your position as the most feared being in the  
universe. No one, not even your worse enemy, would dare to challenge you after  
we accomplish this."  
  
She glanced down at the plane manila folder under her right hand. She then  
looked back at the man face, carefully studying all of his features. He had  
blonde hair, was a lean, muscular build, and was wearing dark sunglasses... Dark  
sunglasses? "Damn gangster wannabes..."  
  
"We prefer to call it our 'family'." He said with a sly smile.  
  
"What is with the hole dark sunglasses and black suit bit?"  
  
He took off the glasses, and to her amazement, both of his eyes were sown shut.  
"Would you rather I leave them off?"  
  
She shuddered, "No, please put them back on." She glanced to his side, half  
expecting to see a white cane.  
  
He put his right, index finger on the folder: "Well, are you in or out?"  
  
She could use the payoff... If it was as profitable as he said... She was  
looking for something to pre-occupy herself with anyway... "All right, I'm  
game."  
  
He smiled, and tossed a small communication device onto the table. "We will  
contact you again after further planning has been, substantiated."  
  
She held back a snicker; it was like a movie she had seen on Earth with... She  
picked up and downed her glass.  
  
He stood up and walked away, amazingly enough, without tripping on anything. As  
he walked behind the men by the dartboard, he bumped into the tall, burly one.  
"Watch out, you fucking pretty boy, you almost made me spill my drink." The man  
in the suit kept walking, without acknowledging the existence of the other man.  
As he reached the door, the burly man threw a large, buoy knife at his head. The  
man in the suit caught it, and threw it back, all without turning around. As he  
disappeared through the door, the burly man fell to the ground. There was a  
large knife stuck in his throat.  
  
Ryoko turned to Ryo-ohki, "Good aim for a blind guy."  
  
"Miya!" agreed the cabbit.  
  
She looked at the spot where he had been seated just moments ago, and saw a  
black, leather briefcase in his spot. She leaned over retrieved it, and pulled  
it open. Inside, half the contents was perfectly stacked and banded bills, the  
other half was fine jewelry that would make a king green with envy. This was  
definitely the best down payment she had ever received.  
  
"Miya?" Ryo-ohki asked.  
  
"No, I have the feeling that these are not the kind of people you skip town on."  
She now opened the manila folder, and tried to decipher the strange schematics  
that were depicted. *Hmm, I know who could tell me what these are...* she  
thought to herself with a sly smile.  
  
The bartender came out from the back, and headed over to her table. He was just  
about to set the drink down, when he noticed it was vacant. On the table was a  
stack of bills. "Woah, I think I like her drunk..." 


	3. N3M Cptr 3 |||Never Cared For Games They...

N3M Cptr 3 |||Never Cared For Games They Played...|||  
  
The smoke filled air seemed thick enough to cut with a knife. The only thing  
more obnoxious then the flashing strobe lights was the relentless techno beat.  
The crowd was a mix of soup to nuts, junkies looking for a cheap hit, all the  
way up to the most notorious weapons smuggler in the region. The latter was  
what the galaxy police were interested in, so interested that they decided to  
send in two undercover detectives to see what the underworld was cooking up.  
  
A fat man dressed in a red coat and orange pants sat in the darkest corner of  
the bar. His two bodyguards dared anyone to come close, and wished someone  
would. The man was known for his weapons smuggling operations that spread across  
many galaxies. Waiting for what detective first class Kiyone hoped was a buyer;  
the tension in the air was high.  
  
*This is it,* she told herself. *This is the bust I have been waiting for! If I  
catch him and the buyer together, I will definitely be promoted!*  
  
"This place is sooo cool! Let's come here when we are off duty sometime, don't  
you think so, Kiyone?" Asked an (as usual) overly perky Mihoshi.  
  
"Mishooooshi!" She said with a loud whisper. "This is a den of thieves, and we  
aren't here to have fun!"  
  
"Sorry, Kiyone..." she Sniffed back.  
  
"Shhhhh!"  
  
A sharply dressed man cut through the crowd like a wedge, followed closely by  
others dressed exactly like the first. Their finely pressed, two-piece suits  
earned them long looks from suspicious onlookers. As they passed silently by the  
two GP officers, Kiyone turned up the vocal receptors on her wrist communicator.  
  
The apparent leader of the group walked up to the fat man's table and spoke in a  
deep, resonate voice. "Do you have the A-bomb?"  
  
The smuggler rolled his eyes in an exaggerated motion and answered, "Of course,  
but pleasure before business! Take a seat and have a drink..."  
  
Suddenly, the whole station trembled slightly as the lights, music, and  
everything else went dead. The two men's suitcases fell away, reveling jet-black  
MP5 full auto Navy ordinance with integrated silencers. As they pulled back the  
actions, the smugglers bodyguards quickly leveled their XJ advanced rapid-fire  
quad cooled lasers on their opponent's heads and squeezed the triggers. The  
quite puffing of the dual MP5's was drowned out by the screams of the smuggler  
and his two bodyguards as they fell backwards against the wall; which was  
already covered in blood by the 60 some odd rounds that had been dispensed by  
their assassins.  
  
As soon as the light had gone dead, Kiyone grabbed Mihoshi and pulled her behind  
the bar. They both drew their service pistols and were shocked by the grotesque  
gore created by the brutal, ancient weaponry welded by the two suits.  
  
"Cover me!" Hissed Kiyone as she jumped out into a classic weaver stance.   
"Freeze, Galaxy Police!"  
  
The two killers turned around and began changing magazines. Kiyone fired one  
shot at the man on the right... She pulled the trigger again..... Nothing Was  
Happening!  
  
"Kiiiii-yone! My gun is Broken, I think I dropped it too hard again..."  
  
"Oh, shit." Breathed Kiyone as the distinct sound of the operating bolts clinked  
shut. The dual barrels once again rained out silent death. Kiyone felt the first  
round land in her left calf, then her thigh, then her stomach... As she fell to  
the ground, barley hanging on to consciences, she could hear Mihoshi scream as  
the sound of glass breaking melded with the quite reports of lead and flesh. As  
she lay in a fast expanding puddle of her own blood, she wondered what death  
would be like. She also wondered why it had come to this. Why had she, detective  
first class Kiyone, been shot to death in cold blood; in a bar, by obsolete gas  
operated weaponry...  
  
The leader of the suits leaned over and smiled, "Dead yet?"  
  
A weak, "You'll pay for....." was all Kiyone could manage before sub coming to  
the massive blood loss and passing out.  
  
"Bring her and her partner. We'll have to find out how much the Galaxy Police  
know..." 


	4. N3M Cptr 4 |||All These Words I Don't Ju...

N3M Cptr 4 |||All These Words I Don't Just Say...|||  
  
They had been flying the better half of an hour in complete silence, and Nagi  
decided that he was definitely not going to willing give up what really  
happened. She unknowingly gave out a loud sigh. Tenchi jolted and looked at her  
with fear in his eyes...  
  
"So, umm, where are we going?"  
  
"A bar." She allowed herself a sinister smile.  
  
"A bar? Why a bar?"  
  
"There is no where better to get information on criminals, than from criminals."  
  
"Ohhh, I see... Umm, you're not going to hurt Ryoko still, are you?"  
  
She laughed out loud, "What happened changed NOTHING; Ryoko is still the most  
wanted criminal in the Universe.... And I'm still a bounty hunter. You may think  
that you can just go back to your pathetic little space ruble you call a planet,  
and pretend that everything is all better. But as for the rest of the Universe,  
things like the destruction of whole solar systems are not that easily  
forgotten."  
  
"I won't let you hurt her!"  
  
*Bingo*- "Like you did?" She said, regaining her composure.  
  
"What? What are you talking about!?"  
  
"You must have done something pretty damn mean to make her leave without you...  
Last I saw, she would have rather died a thousand times over than live without  
you."  
  
"I- I- It was- I didn't..." he put his head back, stretched his arms all the way  
out, and fell backwards to the floor under the weight of his own body.  
  
She laughed out loud once again, "What- What are you doing?" she said between  
laughs.  
  
"Just kill me!"  
  
"HAHA, what!?"  
  
"I said, just kill me, I want to die! Kill me!"  
  
This was too funny... If he didn't stop this, she was going to wet herself. "Now  
cut that out, what kind of man lies down to be slain?"  
  
"I'm no man... No man could have done what I did!"  
  
Suddenly, it didn't seem so funny anymore.  
  
"What the he..."  
  
A large screen came up with BNN in large red letters, complemented by a loud,  
long beep.  
  
"This is a BNN Flash Update.... Shamus, Weapons Smuggler class A, has been  
eliminated by unknown gang factors... The bounty on his head has been  
transferred to his Killer(s). Two GP officers are also missing from the same  
location and assumed dead. Witnesses say that three individuals entered the  
Stretched Tree Bar, and after a strange electrical interruption, the  
assassination took place..... The total Reward is 2,000,000, and if the GP  
officers have been killed, the usual 10x multiplier is in effect on the  
bounty..... This has been a BNN Flash Update. In other News, the most notorious  
speeder in the Galactic system has finally been caught. After the reward peeked  
at..."  
  
Nagi didn't need to glance at her various logs on bounties to know, if the  
officers had been terminated, this was the 4rth largest bounty offered by Jurai.  
  
"Sha-ool?"  
  
"You had better believe it! Let's get going, Ken-oki!"  
  
By now, Tenchi was standing again. "Get going where?"  
  
"The Stretched Tree, of course."  
  
"The what's a what???"  
  
Nagi about face faulted, just about. "The Stretched Tree Bar, it used to be a  
Remote outpost for the Jurian army; until all hostilities in that region were  
reconciled. Now it's the largest bar for 500,000 light years, and as so, it  
attracts criminals like rats to a dumpster."  
  
"Ok, i get that, now what about BNN?"  
  
Nagi smirked, "With all the wanted criminals in all the universes, and all the  
bounties to go with them there was a need to get info out fast. So, Bounty News  
Network was created roughly 1500 years ago."  
  
"Ahuh... And we are going to collect the bounty on these unknown criminals,   
why?"  
  
Nagi arched her eyebrows, "Money, lots of money..."  
  
  
Tenchi rubbed the back of his head, "Ohhh."  
  
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-  
More... Some day... 


	5. N3M Cptr 5 |||And I Know...|||

N3M Cptr 5 |||And I Know...|||  
  
"You are incredible!"  
  
"Yes, incredible!"  
  
"Way to go Washu, greatest Scientific genious in the universe!"  
  
"Yes, the greatest!"  
  
She feighned a blush, and threw her arms in the air. "Yes, I am the greatest!"  
  
"Three cheers for Washu!" Said A.  
  
"Yes, Three cheers for Washu, the gretest scientific genious ever!" Agreed B.   
  
*Hip-Hip-Horay!*  
*Hip-Hip-Horay!*  
*Hip-Hip-Horay!*  
  
"Yes, With the completion of..."  
  
*knock, knock*  
  
Washu face faulted, and A and B landed face down on the floor. After a minute of silence, she figuered it was ok to continue. "As I was saying- With the completion of..."  
  
*KNOCK KNOCK*  
  
"Washu, You open this damn door right now!" Said an angry voice from the other side.  
  
She walked briskly over to the door, and flung it open. Ryoko fell onto her back, propelled by the kick that had suddenly missed its' mark. Very embarrassed by the incident, she teleported back into a standing position. "Um, Hi Washu."   
  
Her right eyebrow was twitching due to the involuntary muscle spazisms from her anger. Through tightly clentched teeth, she replied. "Hi, R-e-oko."  
  
Now very aware that she had throughly upset Washu, Ryoko glanced to either side, looking for something to change the conversation.   
  
"Wellllll....." Said Washu, still through her teeth.  
  
"Oh, ya! I was wondering if you could tell me what these are..." She held out a manila folder.  
  
She didn't take it.  
  
"Ummm, I was hoping the greatest genious in the entire universe could tell stupid little me what these are..." She was hoping despratly that playing to her ego would snap her bad mood.  
  
She snatched the folder out of her hand and opened it quickly, "Ohhh, I see. I'd be happy too ^_^!"  
  
*Thank God!* Ryoko thought.  
  
"Hmmm, well let me see here. This is a vicatar, and this is a projection platform; and this here is a power estimate graph... This is unbelievable, where did you get it!?"  
  
Ryoko really didn't want to tell the truth; for obvious reasons. "A guy in a bar gave it to me." A half truth was better than trying to make up something up at the spur of the moment.   
  
Washu face faulted, "Since when have you hung out at the Science academy adult club?"  
  
"Umm, It wasn't at the Science Academy adult club, it was just a small bar close to the Sol System."   
  
"Well, I really can't believe it... These are estimated schematics for an antimatter generated EMP field." She said while looking over the papers for the fifth time.  
  
"Anti-huh is a what!?"  
  
She was going to face fault, but instead she decided to try explaining it to her once. "Ok, well you know what EMP is, correct?"  
  
Ryoko shook her head slowly from side to side, "Nu-uh."  
  
Washu face faulted. "EMP- Electro Magnetic Pulse, it's a mix of gamma and elctro-magnetic rays emited from any explotion. It's highly damaging to almost all kinds of electrical circuts."  
  
Ryoko looked puzzled, "So, what does it do?"  
  
Washu just stared at her.   
  
"What?"  
  
Wahu shook her head, "It breaks electrical things..."   
  
"Ohhhhh, why didn't you SAY so?"  
  
Washu briefly considered turning Ryoko into a kapa to save from explaining further, but decided to wait; at least untill she had found out who had come up with this.   
  
"So, these are plans for making a, um, EMP?" Asked a considerable confused Ryoko.  
  
"Are you Drunk?" Asked Washu as she reached inside of a subspace hole. "Here, swallow this..." She held out a large, white pill.  
  
Ryoko snatched it, and swallowed in one, large *gulp*. She felt better instantaniously, and was surprised at how tipsy she had been. "Ok, why don't you tell me again, I'm ready this time."   
  
"Electro Magnetic Pulse!!! It's highly damaging to non-hardened electrical circuts. These are schematics for an Antimatter powered EMP device."   
  
"Ohhh, I see now... But why Antimatter?"  
  
"Antimatter is the most efficient explosive in the universe, when used in conjunction with normal matter, it exchanges energy at 100%."   
  
"So, Everyone knows that.. *aka* AntiMatter bombs... What is the deal with this being so ground breaking?"  
  
Washu took a seat and fed the papers into the her computer for further analysis. "First off, Antimater is very unstable, and requires enormous amounts of energy to create and store. Second, the explosion caused by one mili-gram of antimatter would destroy entire galaxies. The byproduct of this powerfull explosion is an incredible EMP wave; but the problem comes in cancelling out the explosion and retaining the wave..."  
  
Ryoko pretended to understand, "Yes, I - understand... *not*"  
  
"If this device worked like it does in these graphs, it would not only harness the EMP wave, but also prepell it. And on top of all that, it would use the 100% energy conversion to make and store the exact amount of antimatter used in each power up, simply amazing! But these metals: zink, copper, gold, titainium, and platinum? These are crude, at best. With a plan this ambitious, one would use the most advanced alloys. These are metals that, *haha*, no, that is rediculous!"  
  
Ryoko cocked her head to the side, "What is?"  
  
Washu whiped a tear from her eye and replied. "Oh, nothing, it's just that..." She broke into laughter once again. After allowing the joke to wear off, she continued: "These are Earth metals, it's almost as if these are scematics fom some earth scientist!"  
  
Ryoko now laughed herself, "Earth, what? They don't even have the ability of long range space flight, let alone antimatter."  
  
Washu whiped another tear from her eye, and asked, "Now, seriously, Ryoko, Who gave these to you?"  
  
"I told you, a guy in a bar."  
  
"That's not an acceptable answer! Tell me who really gave these to you or I'll..." A keyboard appeared dirrectly below her fingers.  
  
"Ahh, wait, It's the truth! A guy in a bar really did give them to me! He was trying to hire... I mean, he was..."  
  
Washu frowned, "So you are just going to pick up where you left off. It that it? Just, resume your life of crime, and to hell with anybody else!"  
  
"YES!" Screamed back Ryoko. "I don't care what happens to me now!"  
  
"Ryoko, you shouldn't do this to yourself! You are going to be killed!"  
  
"I ALREADY AM DEAD!!! Don't you understand that? I've been dead ever since....." She hung her head. "Just give me the damn papers," she said while holding out her hand.  
  
Washe handed the folder back to her, and for the first time in her life; she had nothing intelligent to say. Ryoko took them, and went out the door. It closed with an audible *click*, and all was silent. Washu stood in the same spot, with her hand held out for what seemed like hours. Finally she let her arm go limp, and turned to get back to her experiments... *If only you had known how much we cared for you...* she thought to herself. 


	6. N3M Cptr 6 |||Every Day For Us...|||

N3M Cptr 6 |||Every Day For Us...|||  
  
*Ohhhhhh* Moaned Kiyone as she opened her eyes ever so slightly. The room was mostly dark, except for a small desk lamp that was pointing down. Basked in the light were 2 glasses of clear liquid, what appeared to be water. Her tongue felt like a dried out old spunge, and it was dificult to muster the energy to talk. "Wh-wa-water..."   
  
A cup pressed against her lips, and she greatfully drank every last drop. After finishing it, she felt much better, and was begining to regain her energy. She opened her eyes all the way now, and took a hard look around the room. It was completely black, paint or just bare metal, she couldn't tell. She could see that next to the glasses on the desk sat a bottle of hard liquor, Vodka, it said in Russian. She turned to her right and saw a large figure standing there. After giving her eyes a few seconds to adjust, she could make out some of his features. He was huge, she was guessing 6 and a half to 7 feet tall; and was wearing a black, leather trench coat that went down to his ankles. His mostfolese image was topped of by the eye hugging shades he was sporting...   
  
*Sun glasses? I can hardly see in this light as it is...*  
  
The man walked back over to the desk and sat down. He poured some Vodka, and after gulping it down, began looking at some papers.   
  
"Detective First Class, Kiyone." He read aloud. "Highly decorated, finished the academy with excellent marks... Current assignment, undercover; partner, one Mihoshi... Blah, Blah, Blah; some more useless garbage for the info junkies, and a directive that this file be sealed untill you resume active status."  
  
Kiyone sat up, she was surprised to find out there were no restraints on her. *Good for me, bad for them...*  
  
She jumped to her feet, and dashed at the man. Before he had time to react, she had kicked him in the face with a perfectly placed reverse crecent kick, which rendered him unconscience. She picked up the papers, and glanced through them... They were straight out of her file at GP headquarters... She couldn't believe they had gotten ahold of these so fast. She took the second glass, filled it half way, and downed it. She was setting it down when she realized... *Wait, there are two glasses...*  
  
She heard a quite *pop* and snapped her head in the dirrection from which it came. Having just emerged from the shadows was the partner to the other man, dressed exactly alike, down to the sunglasses. He was a bit shorter, but was built like a tank... As he rolled his head on his shoulders, she could see the trench coat bulge as his muscles moved in a strange, rythmic pattern. He put one arm behind his head, and used the other to pop his shoulder blade. After repeating the stetch with the other arm, he began to slowly walk towards her. Kiyone took an L stance, and put her arms in a defensive position. He cracked a smile and stopped just a few feet in front of her.  
  
"Hello."  
  
She glared at him, "What do you bastards want?"  
  
"I want..." His right arm shot out a low, arching tragectory.   
  
Kiyone went into an X block, and tensed for the blow.. which never came. In stead of striking her, he had snatched the bottle off the table.  
  
"...Something to drink." He said with a victorious smile. As her tipped the bottle up, he took a seat. After taking a long drought of the clear liquid, he spoke again. "Why don't you take a seat?"  
  
"Goto hell!"  
  
His right eyebrow arched about the dark rims, "Mwa? Certainly you jest! I am already in hell! Space is hell!"  
  
Kiyone didn't relax her stance, and looked at his helpless position. She imediatly went into a roundhouse kick, aimed directly for his head.   
  
But he caught kick, and used his shear bulk to stop her cold. Then he proceded to yank her ankle and cause her to stumble into his arm.  
  
She fell as if she had swooned, and was now looking down the barrel of a rather large caliber handgun...   
  
*Double-shit*  
  
"Want something to eat?"  
  
"Um.. Sure..."  
  
"How about a roast beef sandwitch?"  
  
"Ummm, sounds, good..."  
  
He let her go, and she landed hard on her but. As she sat up and rubbed her tail bone, she watched as he walked out the door. As it slowly slid shut behind him, he didn't turn around as he said, "Back in a few."  
  
"Ok....."  
  
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-  
  
"And so, one can easily see the after effects of the progressive, step rate taxation package..."   
  
*Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah... How has father done this for so long while keeping his sanity?* Wondered Aeka.   
  
The requests to the crown were neverending, and as First Princess, those deemed "important" but not "priority" were given to her. Everything in the kingdom was put to this sliding scale, and she sometimes wished that they would just fall into a wormhole or something.  
  
*Now stop that! The First Princess of Jurrai is not allowed to wish loyal subjects harm* Weakly scolded her conscience.   
  
*You are correct, but you have not figuered in that they are trying to assassinate me by driving me to the brink of insanity!* She shot back.  
  
"*Ahem!*" Said the man with a deep bow. "What is the Princesses decision in a accordance to this matter?" He asked with a slight edge to his voice.  
  
*How about the Princess doesn't even care?*  
  
"I will consider it, and my decision will be delivered to you at such a time." Which effectivly meant, "When I get around to it, I'll let you know."  
  
The man bowed as far as his back would permit, and then turned on the balls of his feet and proceeded to the door. After the door had shut, Aeka slouchd back in her chair and announced she would not take any more visits or requests for the remander of the day. She got up and headed for her chamber.   
  
*This was much less tirring when I knew nothing of what true happiness was like...*   
  
Aeka entered he room with her head bowd, deep in thought. As she trudged past the balcony, she noticed Sasami standing on the edge, starring at the artificial sun set. Aeka bit her lower lip and pondered whether to approach her sister.   
  
Upon their departure from earth Sasami had declared she would never again speak. Her exact words were, "If I don't have something good to say, then I won't say anything at all! And since I will never have anyting good to say after leaving Earth, I'll say nothing!"  
  
Nothing, short of a command from the king himself, would get her to utter a sound. She decided to try once again, anyway. "Hello, Sasami, the sunset from this balcony is very beautiful, is it not?"  
  
Sasami shook her head, and looked down, leaning heavily on the railing.  
  
Aeka let out a loud sigh, and went over to her ornate bed. She stood, just watching her sister for a moment, then fell backwards into the extra soft matress. She closed her eyes, and willed away all the stress she held inside. "Goodnight, Sister..." She said as she closed her eyes.   
  
The last conscience thoughts of the first princess of Jurri were not of Progressice Taxes, or on any other matter that should concern her. No, her last thought were of herself, standing in her plain kimono, smliing as she watched the leaves fall outside the Masaki house; as Tenchi tried to keep the steps swept and clear of the never ending stream of debrise..... 


End file.
